This article features L. Thomas Melly, a member of the Hobart Class of 1952 at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
Friday, May 07, 2004
By KEVIN DeVALK
Finger Lakes Times, Geneva, N.Y.
GENEVA - Hobart and William Smith Colleges announced a $7.5 million donation Thursday, the second-largest in the schools' histories.
Trustee L. Thomas Melly, a 1952 Hobart graduate and retired partner with the New York City financial management firm Goldman Sachs Co., has pledged $2.5 million to the Colleges over the next five years. He's leaving another $5 million in his will.
Colleges spokeswoman Susan Murad said Melly informed administrators of his donation at the April trustees' meeting.
Speaking from his home in Greenwich, Conn., yesterday, Melly said he loves the Colleges and hopes the donation will encourage other donors "to think larger and bigger."
The initial funds will go toward the capital campaign for HWS 2005, the Colleges' facilities and programming master plan. The two new dormitories being built on Routes 5&20 and the newly established Finger Lakes Institute on South Main Street are part of that effort.
The donation boosts the campaign to $50 million, Melly said, adding that there is no specific fund-raising goal except to exceed the Colleges' recent $100 million effort.
The Colleges' largest donation - $15 million pledged by alumnus and trustee William Scandling in 2002 - also went to HWS 2005.
Melly said the facilities at Hobart have improved since he was a student, when he slept in barracks and the school didn't even have a basketball court. Nevertheless, he said there are so many things he'd like to see on the campus, including an expanded Scandling Center and a performing arts center.
Both ideas are under discussion.
"I've seen it improve and improve, and at a small college like Hobart I feel like I can make a difference," Melly said.
Colleges President Mark Gearan said Melly's contributions of service and resources have been exemplary.
A trustee since 1981, Melly served as board chairman from 1988 to 1998. He was the lead donor for the establishment of the 200,000-volume Melly Academic Center at the campus library, and, along with Trustee Henry Rosenberg, donated funds for the naming rights of a classroom in honor of the Classes of 1952 at Stern Hall, which opened last year. He received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the Colleges in 2002, and a Colleges' scholarship carries his name.
Melly is also a member of the National Association of Governing Boards, an organization for college trustees. He and his wife, Alice, have four children and four grandchildren.